


I speak everything

by sonictrowel



Series: Long Night in the Blue House [46]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Babies, Cats, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 09:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonictrowel/pseuds/sonictrowel
Summary: Look, the Doctor wasn’t going to be one of those dads, coming round and embarrassing her by telling the popular kid’s parents to invite her to their kid’s birthday party.Obviously not, because what pudding brain wouldn’t invite her in the first place?But he was not going to let his damn cat get away with it.





	I speak everything

[Darillium]

Cat/baby relations were a tiny bit tense in the early months of Athena’s life.  Vincent had claimed her cot as his own before she arrived, and was none too pleased with being displaced, nor with being usurped as the littlest and most doted upon member of the family.  

The Doctor tried to cajole him into getting to know his little sister, but he only flattened his ears to the side and glared as Athena began to cry. 

 _Your kitten is loud,_ he said, before stalking from the room.

Well, fair enough; she was that.

___

When she was a bit older, they attempted to negotiate another truce.  Athena was totally delighted by Vincent and her little grabby hands were extended in his direction whenever he was within sight.  But she wasn’t quite independently mobile yet, so he easily stayed far out of her reach.

River finally coaxed him over while Athena was lying on her stomach on the picnic blanket, flailing her limbs and laughing happily at the _orange boy._  (She was four months old, they could wait til she was speaking English rather than Baby to work on her vocabulary.)

“Now, touch nicely, Athena,” the Doctor instructed.  “No grabbing, okay?”

River snorted.  They both received more than their fair share of daily hair-pulling.  “Maybe we should have waited a bit,” she said under her breath as Vincent cautiously approached, neck outstretched and sniffling suspiciously. 

Athena squealed with joy before he came within her reach, and Vincent instantly recoiled.

 _Your kitten is_ still _loud,_ he said, and retreated to the back of the sofa. 

 _Come back, orange boy!_ Athena wailed.

“Awwh, there, there, kitten,” the Doctor soothed as he picked her up and patted her back.  He caught River smiling soppily as she watched them and winked at her.  “It’s alright, sweetheart.  He’ll come round.” 

Vincent flicked his tail irritably.

___

It was incredible how quickly Athena grew.  The Doctor found himself fervently wishing he could slow down time— well, not that that wasn’t already always at the forefront of his mind.  Only River and their girls could make the most impatient and impulsive man in the universe want a still moment to last forever.

By the time her first birthday was approaching, Athena had already picked up a fairly impressive repertoire of English words (already being able to communicate with her parents in ‘Baby’ made the transition to actually speaking smoother, though she’d yet to move very far past repeatedly exclaiming nouns.)  She also required eagle-eyed supervision at all times, as she was newly bipedal and already had wreaking havoc down to a fine art.

Well, she was their child, that was certain.

Her favourite things were biscuits, playing in the greenhouse, playing in the snow (even though, bundled up in her little snowsuit, she could hardly move and usually ended up toppling over and making snow angels that were mostly just round,) and listening to stories, whether read from a book or told from memories.  And, luckily for her adoring parents, cuddling with Mummy and Daddy was high on the list as well.  She found Uncle Nardole endlessly hilarious, and the Doctor couldn’t bring himself to find the man even slightly annoying when his daughter’s shrieks of laughter were echoing through the TARDIS. 

But the apple of Athena’s eye, the greatest aspiration of her young life, was ‘Vinten.’  Oblivious to the cold shoulder she continued to receive, she pursued him tirelessly, calling his name and inviting him to play and looking utterly confused when he evaded her.

Look, the Doctor wasn’t going to be one of _those_ dads, coming round and embarrassing her by telling the popular kid’s parents to invite her to their kid’s birthday party.

Obviously not, because what pudding brain wouldn’t invite her in the first place?

But he was _not_ going to let his damn cat get away with it.

He waited until after they put Athena down for bed and he’d kissed River goodnight, telling her he’d join her in the bedroom after he finished his episode of _GBBO._ Vincent jumped into his lap as expected, purring loudly and contentedly flexing his toes.

“We’ve talked about this,” the Doctor grumbled, wincing as Vincent dug his claws into his thigh.  “But fine.  You can use me as a pincushion, but you’re going to be nice to Athena.”

_The loud kitten._

“Yes, her.  My _daughter._  She’s older now, she doesn’t even grab anymore!”

Vincent radiated scepticism.

“...much!”

The cat sighed dramatically through his nose and resumed his kneading.

“There’s tuna in it for you if you play with her.  The good stuff— no cans.  I’ll cook it myself.”

After a pause, Vincent’s purring increased dramatically in volume and enthusiasm.  Yeah, that would do it.

___

The following morning, River took Athena into the lounge to play after breakfast, while the Doctor stayed back to make another pot of tea.  

A few minutes later, he heard Athena giggling as she squealed “Vinten!  Mummy, _Vinten!"_  

“Oh, look!” River enthused.  “What a _nice_ orange boy he is.  Aren’t you, Vincent?  Have you come to play with your sister?”

When the Doctor popped his head into the lounge, Vincent was circling Athena where she sat on the floor, rubbing his head affectionately against her.  The excitement on her chubby little face as she patted him with exaggerated care, her mouth gaping open in disbelieving delight, was rapidly breaking into the top five best sights the Doctor had ever seen.  River turned to look over her shoulder at him, grinning.  Top four.

Athena’s midmorning nap was normally a bit of an ordeal, as she resisted sleep during “daytime” hours with a dramatic defiance that would make Dylan Thomas proud.  But as ten a.m. rolled around, River laid her hand on the Doctor’s arm.  He followed her gaze and found that, rather than raging against the dying of the light, Athena had leaned to the side where she sat and laid her head down on Vincent’s soft white belly.  Her mouth hung open, one little fist lightly gripping his fur.  Vincent had curled himself comfortably around her.

The Doctor smiled and leaned in close to River’s ear.  “I’ll have to pop down to the shops,” he muttered.  “How’s tuna steaks sound for dinner?”

___

Alright, they were definitely spoiling her.  But painful as it was to even think of, the Doctor didn’t know how many of Athena’s childhood birthdays he and River would be able to share with her.  He didn’t know anything about what came next. 

So on her first birthday, they had chocolate cake for breakfast.  They gathered round with Nardole and sang happy birthday while she laughed and slapped her palms against her high chair tray, then sat down at the worktop to eat their own slices while they watched Athena get most of hers all over her face.

“Mummy,” she said around sticky, crumb-covered fingers.  She paused in that way she did when she had more to say than she knew how to say properly.

_Mummy, who’s the lady?_

River glanced at the Doctor and he raised his eyebrows with a shrug.

“What lady, sweetie?” River asked.

_The lady who talks to me._

“What does she say…?”

_Sings songs.  ‘I love you’ song, ‘baby sleep’ song, and that cake song._

“Oh, River, it must be—”

She grinned at him, clearly having had the same thought.  “I think that must be the TARDIS singing to you, love.  She’s… sort of our house,” River said slowly.  “And she’s family.”

 _“Ohh,”_ Nardole said faintly, having heard only half of the conversation.

“She’s your Gran, kitten,” the Doctor said.

_Another Gran?_

The Doctor shrugged again as River exchanged another look with him.  They hadn’t gotten into any of that with her, yet.

“What do you mean, sweetie?” River asked.

_She says sorry.  Sorry I went to my orangey Gran and Pretty._

The Doctor’s mouth went dry and River’s hand gripped his tightly as she glanced over at him, and he could see all of the fears and possibilities currently racing through his own mind on her face.

“She can be very silly, sometimes,” the Doctor croaked.  “Don’t worry about it, kitten.  You’ve got to finish your cake so you can open presents!”

 

 


End file.
